Are You Divorced And Broke? Learn How To Change That Today!

These post-divorce tips are a must for you to know. First, don’t wish it were easier. Instead, make yourself better. The way to do this is to:

Evaluate and know where you are financially. If you were a stay-at-home mom, that’s awesome. If you were a two income family, that was great. But since this has changed, you must change. Did you create any type of savings vehicle, like an IRA, CD, or money market mutual fund? If you did that’s great. If not, that’s alright.

How much is your net-worth? Not sure, it’s simple to find out.

Grab a sheet of paper and a pen. Draw a line straight down the middle. On the left side title this assets on the right side title this liabilities. Under the assets column write everything you own out right that can be liquidated into cash quickly. List your house if it has equity in it, cash, and your car if it is paid off, stocks, bonds, etc.

If any of these words sound foreign click this link for clarity. The right side is everything you owe. Your car payments, mortgage (yes, you can use both sides if you have equity in your home, but your mortgage is still a liability that’s due each month), tuition, credit cards, student loans, and everything else you may owe. Subtract the right from the left this is your net worth. Don’t get discouraged if it is negative. That’s the reason for this post. We want to help you by giving you a short cut or cheat sheet that most divorced women don’t know about or understand. This step is the most important. If you find yourself drowning in grief, fear, and debt, this is understandable. Going through a divorce is right up there with dying on the list of things people don’t want to do. Statistically, most women never recover from a divorce either financially or emotionally. You, on the other hand, are a conqueror and will become victorious in all aspects of life. Read on.

It is what we don’t know that weakens us and leads to our financial demise. You must learn about money and study wealth for financial well-being. You have to read, take classes, find a mentor and become a lifelong student. The people who are financially abundant did not get there by accident. Wealthy people know something that poor people don’t and they practice it every day of their lives. This is a two part step.

You must also develop yourself personally and professionally. Even if you work at the local Walmart, you can study how to become the best customer service representative which could one day lead to becoming a store manager, and then district manager. Walmart has a program for women entrepreneurs (click here). You don’t have to work for them to take part in the program. I’m using Walmart as an example only to show that it does not matter where you find yourself today you can grow to the next level if you simply have the desire and are willing to do the hard, often lonely work that is required to move forward in life. Many billion dollar corporations have programs to assist women in their endeavors. You just have to do the research and then apply if you fit the criteria.

Now, you must build a library of books that will pull you out of despair. Or maybe it’s just mediocrity you want to move away from. A great book to start your library is The Richest Man in Babylon it’s on iTunes for under $3.. Don’t be like the statistics. Get the book, and study the book until you know it in your sleep and until you are taking the suggested actions within the book.

The major reason that divorced women and their children live in poverty is because the husband was usually the primary provider and managed the finances. Even women who wrote the checks and paid the bills often had no idea how their families money was being invested. Your new number one job is to learn how to become financially independent this year. But take no more than five years from your reading of this post if that’s too soon.

You will read in the book how to commit to living on no more than 70% of your income no matter how small. You are to give 10% to the religious affiliation or charity of your choice, pay yourself 10% in a fair interest bearing financial vehicle, and pay debts with the remaining 10% until you are debt free. If you study, you need to learn from wealthy people, not financial advisers that you pay a fee. Wealthy people write books so you don’t have to know them. Many books are free on YouTube. Another favorite is Rich Dad/Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

A lot of women want to make this complicated, don’t do that, simply deduct 10% after taxes for each of these areas until you gain some financial traction then you can do more. You have to get started or you will surely be on the U.S. Census statistics list of post-divorced women and children who experience a 73% decline in their standard of living. They are called the working poor.

If you have assets like a home a car or a family vacation spot, maintain them (but don’t hesitate to sell your old diamond jewelry)! Even if you have to move into an apartment and rent them out to someone who can easily afford to pay your mortgage, do it. As you start to learn about finances, and wealth accumulation, you will eventually see your money grow and the main thing is to get money as an issue out of the way

This is also very important: It is a lot easier to grow and establish credit from a position of strength (home ownership is a position of strength), than trying to pull yourself together not knowing where you and the kids will live this month. If you already sold the house and you have money, invest in another house. Remember that home is an asset, even though it is a liability. Fight to keep this asset, even if that means renting a room or the basement out, or you have to take on part time work.

Do whatever it takes. You can’t see it now, but hindsight is 20/20. Don’t let 10 years go past before you figure this out. You must also take classes that increase your professional abilities. Never stop, not even when the kids are grown and leave the house. If you have small children you still need to develop yourself because the only difference between being broke and being poor is a mind set and your philosophy. The study of personal and spiritual development will help you heal faster. If you don’t have a membership join a local ministry. Try Joel Osteen’s book.

If your life depended on you sharing or tweeting this post would you do it? Well your sister’s life does, so do it now!

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About the Author

I am a writer,entrepreneur and a mom of 3, two girls ages 26 & 22, the youngest is a U.S. Marine stationed in San Diego, CA. where she is also currently studying to be a chef at a culinary institute, the oldest just became a mom, so I am now a grandmother to Dylan born Jan. 2015. My son Tyler is age 13 he enters high school next year and aspires to become an NBA player.
My marriage of 23 years ended 10 years ago. I believe there are no problems, only... Read More